The heart risk is still there at the dose you can buy yourself
Two independent syntheses landed on 1.40 and 1.41 for major cardiovascular events. The community review found the excess still present at over-the-counter doses, at 1.22.
What the study found
Diclofenac's heart risk persists at over-the-counter doses
Two independent syntheses land on almost the same number for diclofenac: 1.40 for major cardiovascular events in pooled community data, and 1.41 in pooled randomised trials. The community review found the excess still present at doses sold without a prescription, at 1.22.
The caveat · Riskier patients may get it more
The community data are observational, so doctors steering higher-risk patients towards particular drugs cannot be ruled out. A relative risk says nothing about a given reader's own starting point. In the randomised trials the absolute excess came to about three extra major vascular events per 1,000 people treated for a year, one of them fatal. Those trial doses were high and sustained.